Cardinals Rumors

Stark On Bell, Nathan, Oswalt, Dunn

By Tim Dierkes | April 15, 2010 at 12:56pm CDT

Let's check in on the Rumblings and Grumblings of ESPN's Jayson Stark…

One exec Stark spoke to implied the Padres may not be motivated to trade closer Heath Bell because he's under team control through 2011 and signed at $4MM for 2010. Bell's salary could double in '11, though, and I'm not convinced the Padres will want to pay it.
Stark talked to a GM who thinks Bell makes sense for the Twins as a backup plan in case Joe Nathan needs a 16-month Tommy John recovery period to get back to normal. Stark learned that a significant part of Nathan's salary this year is insured, so that frees up some money this year. But again, will the Twins want to pay nearly $20MM to two relievers in 2011?
Should Houston's troubles continue, Stark wonders if Roy Oswalt would consider waiving his no-trade clause. He says a friend of Oswalt believes the pitcher's preferred destinations are Atlanta, St. Louis, and Texas. It's hard to see those clubs making a play for Oswalt, especially with his large salaries for '10 and '11.
Stark guesses the Nationals are more likely to trade Adam Dunn before the deadline than sign him to an extension. Last we heard, ESPN's Buster Olney said there were no ongoing extension talks.
Twins catching prospect Wilson Ramos has been labeled as one of the game's best trade chips, but assistant GM Rob Antony says that "right now, we'd lean toward keeping him."
If he can't find a big league job, Kevin Millar could sign with the St. Paul Saints, where his pro career began. Millar was released by the Cubs on March 30th.

Rosenthal On Bullpens, Marcum, Crawford

By Tim Dierkes | April 12, 2010 at 1:06pm CDT

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports has a few hot stove offerings…

Rosenthal names the Cubs, Cardinals, Rays, Phillies, and Marlins as teams with bullpen question marks. I'm thinking the Blue Jays might be able to extract something useful for their veteran relievers in a few months.
Rosenthal speculates that Blue Jays starter Shaun Marcum would be attractive on the trade market. Marcum is under team control through 2012. It's not known whether the Jays would entertain trading Marcum for even younger and cheaper players.
Carl Crawford should command at least $12-14MM per year and at least a seven-year contract as free agent, opines Rosenthal.

2011 Contract Issues: St. Louis Cardinals

By Tim Dierkes | April 12, 2010 at 8:11am CDT

The Cardinals have a pair of contract options due after the season:

Albert Pujols has a $16MM club option with a $5MM buyout. This will easily be exercised, but the real story will be the progress of extension talks.
Lefty reliever Trever Miller has one of nine vesting options to follow this season. His $2MM becomes guaranteed with 45 games in 2010, a plateau that has not been a problem anytime recently. DL time due to a left arm or shoulder injury would cause this to become a club option.

The Cards will have four key free agents: Brad Penny, Dennys Reyes, Felipe Lopez, and Jason LaRue. They're guaranteed a total of $11.45MM in 2010.

Raises to players under contract total $7.05MM, with Kyle Lohse, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Molina, Skip Schumaker, and Chris Carpenter getting bumps.

The arbitration group is light. Kyle McClellan, Brendan Ryan, and Jaime Garcia are projected first-timers, while Ryan Ludwick is due for his third time.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

Odds & Ends: Lowell, Paulino, Cardinals, Nationals

By Luke Adams 2 | April 11, 2010 at 2:30pm CDT

Links for Sunday….

Tony La Russa tells Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch that he's confident GM John Mozeliak will add pieces if the Cardinals have clear needs this summer.
Barry Bonds still hasn't retired, notes Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News (via Twitter).
Mike Lowell explained to Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston that he would like to take a year or two off once he's done playing. Lowell would consider broadcasting, but doesn't think he wants to coach at this point.
Tom D'Angelo of the Palm Beach Post credits Florida's front office with another steal for acquiring Ronny Paulino. The Marlins traded for Paulino a year ago in exchange for Hector Correa, who isn't close to the big leagues.
Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch takes a look at the Cardinals' present and future payroll situation.
Yesterday we discussed the Nationals' need to make room on their 25-man roster for Livan Hernandez, who will start for Washington today. MLB.com's Bill Ladson tweets that the team has cleared a spot by optioning Garrett Mock to Triple A, deciding against sending down Jesse English.
Despite not receiving much first base production so far, Jerry Manuel says the Mets have no plans to call up Ike Davis, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post.
The New York Post's Joel Sherman explains why it's important for the New York franchises to develop pitching depth from within their organizations.

Top Trade Chips: NL Central

By Mike Axisa | April 10, 2010 at 9:40am CDT

Let's continue our series looking at each team's top trade chips with the NL Central…

Astros: Teams can ask for Hunter Pence, but it's just not happening. 26-year-old catcher J.R. Towles and his five years of team control could be shopped with top prospect Jason Castro coming up behind him. If Houston falls way out of it, Roy Oswalt could be made available, but it would be a massive PR hit. He's owed $31MM through 2011 with a $16MM option ($2MM buyout) for 2012, and would have to approve any trade. Dealing him would signify the start of a full rebuilding effort.
Brewers: Yovani Gallardo was never going to be moved in the first place, but his new contract extension all but guarantees it. Manny Parra seems to have fallen out of favor, but a lefty who can dial it up to the mid-90's will always have value on the trade market. He still has three years of arbitration eligibility ahead of him.
Cardinals: The Cards dealt away most of their top prospects for Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa last year, so there's not much left to move. Triple-A catcher Bryan Anderson and Double-A outfielder Daryl Jones could be used in a trade since the big league team is pretty well set at those positions. Jones is more highly regarded of the two. Colby Rasmus is untouchable, obviously.
Cubs: Josh Vitters, the third overall pick in 2007, watched his name pop up in trade rumors involving Jake Peavy last year. If Chicago is willing to eat some of the $26.5MM left on his contract, there would be interest in Kosuke Fukudome.
Pirates: Neal Huntington has completely turned over the team's roster since taking over in September 2007, dealing away every notable veteran player. He did, however, build up a nice inventory of veteran relievers this offseason. Octavio Dotel, D.J. Carrasco, Brendan Donnelly, and Javier Lopez could all be used as trade fodder this summer.
Reds: Cincinnati is clearly a team on the rise, but one young player they could make available is the blocked Yonder Alonso. The power hitting first baseman masquerading as a left fielder in Double-A has all six years of team control left, and is the best trade chip in the division.

Largest Contracts By Service Time

By Mike Axisa | April 8, 2010 at 8:46pm CDT

When Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo signed his five year, $30.1MM extension earlier today, it marked the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher with less than three years of service time.

Let's look at the richest contracts by service time, in terms of guaranteed money…

Less Than One Year
Position Player: Ryan Braun. Eight years, $45MM
Pitcher: C.C. Sabathia. Four years, $9.5MM.

One To Two Years
Position Player: Chris Young. Five years, $28MM.
Pitcher: Fausto Carmona. Four years, $15MM.

Two To Three Years
Position Player: Hanley Ramirez. Six years, $70MM.
Pitcher: Yovani Gallardo. Five years, $30.1MM.

Three To Four Years
Position Player: Albert Pujols. Seven years, $100MM.
Pitcher: Scott Kazmir. Three years, $28.5MM.

Four To Five Years
Position Player: Miguel Cabrera. Eight years, $152.3MM.
Pitcher: Justin Verlander. Five years, $80MM.

Five To Six Years
Position Player: Derek Jeter. Ten years, $189MM.
Pitcher: Jake Peavy. Three years, $52MM.

Six-plus Years
Position Player: Alex Rodriguez. Ten years, $275MM.
Pitcher: C.C. Sabathia. Seven years, $171MM.

Some thoughts…

The most regrettable deals were signed very early in the player's career, Young and Carmona. Might be a lesson in using up those pre-arbitration years before taking the plunge.
The largest contract signed by a position player with less than one year of service time after Braun's deal is Evan Longoria's, which will pay him just $17.5MM over six years. Is Braun overpaid, or is Longoria underpaid? I think the answer is clear.
Sabathia's four year, $9.5MM deal nearly tripled Roy Halladay's three year, $3.7MM deal with Toronto, which was the previous record for a pitcher with less an a year of service time.
One only of the above contracts has expired.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

Stark On Free Agent Starters, Harper, Calero

By Tim Dierkes | April 8, 2010 at 2:20pm CDT

ESPN's Jayson Stark leads his latest column by explaining why realignment doesn't make sense, and how it'd be shortsighted to make changes based on the Yankees and Red Sox. On to his hot stove rumblings…

One GM's rankings of the five 2011 free agent starters likely to sign multiyear deals: Cliff Lee, Javier Vazquez, Jorge de la Rosa, Aaron Harang, and Ted Lilly. Health risks and one-year deal types were considered separately. De La Rosa, who recently turned 29, will be an interesting contract year pitcher to follow. He makes his season debut Friday afternoon against the Padres.
One exec explained that Bryce Harper is not in the same class as guys like Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. were when they were drafted.
Why did Kiko Calero find little interest on the free agent market after a strong 2009? Said one exec: "The medicals are so bad that everybody's wary."
An official of a big market club feels that Albert Pujols will ask for Alex Rodriguez money, rather than Joe Mauer/Mark Teixeira dollars. That exec feels it's obvious the Cardinals will find a way to sign Pujols, even at that price.

Odds & Ends: Beckett, Lind, Cardinals

By Tim Dierkes | April 6, 2010 at 5:54pm CDT

Why isn't there more baseball today? Links for Tuesday…

BoSox manager Terry Francona is glad that the organization hammered out Josh Beckett's extension before it became a media circus, writes Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal.
I'll be joining Jeff & Jeff on KFNS St. Louis today at 1:25pm CST. Click here to listen live.
SI's Jon Heyman wonders if the Diamondbacks and Rockies will get in on free agent lefty Jarrod Washburn.
Josh Beckett initially wanted to top Carlos Zambrano's five-year, $91.5MM deal, reports WEEI's Rob Bradford. The market has changed since that deal was signed in August of '07, and the Red Sox secured Beckett for four years and $68MM.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports says rival agents are exasperated by Adam Lind's four-year, $18MM extension, given the three club options. Frustrated agents – always a good sign for the team.
Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch analyzes changes in the Cardinals' Opening Day payroll compared to '09.
Steve Sommer of FanGraphs finds the best one-year deals at $2MM guaranteed or less for 2009, with Carl Pavano's Indians contract leading the way.
The Twins look at seven factors when considering signing a young player to a long-term extension, learned Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Baseball America's Will Lingo puts together a list of lesser-known future GM candidates in the latest Ask BA.

Offseason Questions For The NL Central

By Tim Dierkes | April 6, 2010 at 8:20am CDT

With the offseason and our team-by-team reviews in the books, we're asking questions of each club. Let's try the NL Central.

Limited by the Milton Bradley situation this offseason, did the Cubs add enough pitching in Carlos Silva and John Grabow?
Will Reds free agent signings Orlando Cabrera and Ramon Hernandez be upgrades over Paul Janish and Ryan Hanigan? Did the short-term gain of freeing up 2010 payroll justify adding two years to Scott Rolen's contract?
Will Brandon Lyon and Matt Lindstrom effectively replace LaTroy Hawkins and Jose Valverde at the back end of the Astros' bullpen? Will free agent additions Brett Myers and Pedro Feliz lead the way in a stellar run prevention season, offsetting an apparently weak offense?
Despite bad pitching contracts on the books, Brewers GM Doug Melvin committed $50MM to four hurlers. Will the Brewers at least cobble together an above-average staff for 2010?
Should the Pirates have gotten something in return for Matt Capps or held on to him until his value improved? At the price of $4.85MM and Jesse Chavez, did they overpay for a year of Akinori Iwamura?
Could the Cardinals have re-signed Matt Holliday for significantly less? Will Brad Penny blossom under Dave Duncan and justify a hefty $7.5MM guarantee?

Orioles Acquire Julio Lugo

By Tim Dierkes | April 1, 2010 at 8:20am CDT

The Orioles acquired infielder Julio Lugo from the Cardinals (pending MLB approval), reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli tweets that the Cardinals will receive a player to be named later. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun notes that the Orioles will pay Lugo the league minimum, with the Red Sox paying the remaining $8.6MM. Lugo asked the Cardinals to trade him, reports Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez first reported word of a deal to an AL club and later suggested the O's.

Lugo provides insurance for Brian Roberts, who dealt with back spasms earlier this spring. He can also back up Cesar Izturis at shortstop. Ghiroli says the Lugo acquistion could mean Robert Andino is on the chopping block.

The Cards' signing of Felipe Lopez made Lugo unnecessary. Lugo, 34, hit .280/.352/.405 in 293 plate appearances for the Red Sox and Cardinals last year. The Cardinals acquired him in July for Chris Duncan, with the Sox assuming Lugo's contract.

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